worldofdarknessfandomcom-20200214-history
Hunchback: The Lurching
'''INTRODUCTION:'''= Right off the bat, let’s get one thing settled. This is NOT a game about persons with any type of congenital birth defect or malformation. It should not be interpreted as being, in any way, related to opinions or prejudices concerning such persons. Nor should it be seen as a representation of such persons. The cultural origins of the ideas represented in this game were directly spawned by Lon Chaney Sr.’s portrayal of Quasimodo in the film “Hunchback of Notre Dame”. That movie was such a success and made such an indelible mark on popular culture that the idea of the “hunchback” as a kind of monster became set in the public consciousness. That idea mutated and evolved as more characters of the type were presented in various films over the next few decades. Quasimodo was probably the first of the Universal Monsters. The character of Fritz from “Frankenstein” continued the archetype. (Fritz in the original stage origins of the character was not a hunchback at all, but rather a bumbling country peasant.) In the publicity for later films, Universal numbered hunchback characters as being among the “monsters” featured in their movies. Daniel from “House of Frankenstein” and Nina in “House of Dracula” were labeled as “Hunchback” monsters on posters and in trailers for those movies. Daniel, despite being a somewhat sympathetic character, certainly qualified as having “monstrous” traits. He kills more people in that film than Dracula, The Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein Monster- COMBINED! Nina, on the other hand, is a wholly sympathetic and benign character. The character of Ygor, brilliantly portrayed by Bela Lugosi in “Son of Frankenstein” and “Ghost of Frankenstein”, was not a hunchback at all, despite the fact that his name came to be associated with the archetype of the hunchbacked assistant of the Mad Doctor in popular culture ever since. Ygor actually only had a crooked neck, the result of an unsuccessful hanging prior to the opening of the movie. Each game in the WoD centers on a theme. They are cautionary tales. V:TR involves sexual appetites and addictions, the ways in which they dehumanize people and can create monsters. W:TF deals with the concepts of territoriality and rage. (For an example of the ways in which these can create monsters, go to any forum and post something critical about a particular game, philosophy, politician, etc. Almost immediately, someone will leap in to ferociously defend their chosen "territory".) M:TAw warns about the dangers of hubris and intellectual pride, the dangers inherent in trying to impose our own desires on the world at large. For "Hunchback", the underlying theme is that self-pity and alienation can create "Monsters" as surely as any other human failing. Misery feeds upon itself and, allowed to grow unchecked, can distort the individual into something warped, something unrecognizable, something malevolent. A Monster. "Hunchback: The Lurching" is about co-dependency, self pity, despite, anger and alienation. ='''"Just Me and Thee." Hunchback Overview'''= '''The Curse & Origins of the Miserable''' The supernatural creatures known as "Hunchbacks" all suffer from the effects of a malevolent spirit affliction called "The Curse". The Curse is whatever unknown supernatural agent that caused an otherwise normal human being to warp and twist into something no longer quite human. Something that is cursed for its entire life to suffer untold misery and rejection. Whatever this supernatural agent actuallly is, wherever it comes from, all Hunchbacks know intuitively that it is malign and that it is both the origin of their suffering and fed by misery. Hunchbacks are primarily solitary creatures. They are the rejected and ignored supernaturals of the World of Darkness. Only rarely will more than one be found in any given location. But they have managed, over the centuries that their kind has existed, to develop a sort of underground culture of their own. Among themselves, they refer to their kind as "The Miserable". Their scant records and legends, almost entirely passed down through oral tradition, are filled with conflicting explanations of The Curse and differing opinions concerning its origins. *''Corrupted Vitae'': Some of the legends suggest that The Curse originated from the efforts of the Kindred to breed Ghoul Families to serve them. The actual creation of a Ghoul Family is very difficult and success is unlikely in any single effort. Yet, there are many such servitor families scattered about the globe. They are found wherever the Kindred exist in numbers. This legend lays the blame for The Curse on one or more of the failed attempts to create a Ghoul lineage. The vampiric vitae in the veins of Ghouls trying to procreate does not always produce viable offspring. Some are born warped and malformed, corrupted by the poisonous undead blood they were born with. Not all of these "failures" perished. Some did survive and managed to pass on their corrupted genes. A thin trickle of Kindred vitae flows down the line of their descendents and, on scattered occasions, enough of it pools in one offspring to trigger a kind of supernatural "allergic reaction". Not quite Ghouls but not normal living human beings either, the Hunchbacks are born partly dead. Either at birth or later in life, the thin pool of vitae in their veins becomes active and produces The Warping which shapes their destiny as one of The Miserable. Some scholars of The Miserable's origins even go so far as to speculate that The Warping is proof that their long distant Kindred domitors most probably were of the Gangrel Clan. The Warping is an effect of diluted vampiric vitae attempting to activate the Protean Discipline, with disasterous resulsts. *''Wolf-Blooded Mongrels'': Another set of legends suggests that the progenitors of The Miserable were Wolf-Blooded relatives of the Uratha. The faint touch of The Shadow upon those who share the Uratha bloodlines sometimes flares into life as one of the Wolf-Blooded undergoes the First Change and is transformed into a Werewolf. Sometimes, however, the First Change does not go quite right. Instead of producing a functional shapeshifter, the spirit touch is corrupted or distorted and only a Warping occurs instead. The Warped Wolf-Blooded become Hunchbacks, twisted and distorted by their supernatural lineage, but forever unable to claim their heritage among the Tribes of the Moon. Or among the Pure, for that matter. Not knowing the type of taint they carry, some of these beings bred with humans or with each other and The Curse was spawned. Over the ages it grows as more and more bloodlines are contaminated with mongrelized Wolf-Blood. Scholars among The Miserable point to the bestial shapes of the Feraleur as proof of a shared heritage with the Uratha. That the Uratha sometimes tolerate Feraleur Hunchbacks within their territories and sometimes even allow them to serve the Pack in some menial capacities is also cited as "clear evidence" that the Werewolves know of their kinship with The Miserable, even if they won't admit it openly. '''The Warping''' '''The Hump''' '''Lurches and The Lurching''' '''The Need for a Master''' '''The Search for Love''' '''Misery, Twists and The Curse''' ='''Marques'''= '''Carabeau''' '''Feraleur''' '''Malvisagi''' '''Oublieur''' '''Punchello''' ='''Sanctuaires'''= '''Concordian''' '''Mabuse''' '''Mondelora''' '''Outrevie''' '''Savagine''' '''Abandonnai''' ='''Twists'''= ='''Systems'''= '''Misery & Hump''' '''Willpower''' '''Humanity''' ='''Rues'''= '''Ataudine''' '''Barnumene''' '''Bruno''' '''Cyrano''' '''Enfantes''' '''Guignol''' '''Moreau''' '''Morgue''' '''Noveau''' '''Quasimodo''' '''Savanteur''' '''Valette''' ='''Antagonists'''= '''Rue de Sade''' ='''Twisted City: Pittsburgh'''= ='''Sources'''